Video surveillance camera conected to PC

[ALBPM]

A friend at work would like to be able to see or watch the front entryway to his home from his PC. This would involve about 100+ ft of cable to go from the front of his house to the back where his office is located.

What would be the easiest(cheapest) way to do this from his PC????

Paul

[Helevitia]

There is great free software that you can download. As long as you have a video capture card and a camera, you are pretty much set. I've actually set it up before and there was nothing to it. I assume it would probably work w/ USB cameras as well. These programs are cool cuz they will detect motion as well. here is a link to one of them, although I've never used it before.

http://www.zincware.com/

Dave

[ALBPM]

Thanks Dave,

Will most web cams work if run through 100+ ft of cable?? That would be the least expensive camera to use rather than the more expensive CCD cameras ?? His main problem would be splicing and running that great a length of cable.

Paul

[Helevitia]

I guess it would depend on the cable. Coax cable is cool cuz it can travel enough distance to where a house shouldn't be a prob. If it is a USB camera, you might have a problem there since it is a USB cable. I doubt there is USB cable long enough even if it did work.

Dave

[LvR]

USB cams seem to be limited to about 5 Meter of cable - If you want more there are UTP network cable converters available - cant remember where I came across that though

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Lawrence

[Tom]

ALBPM,

I have a Creative Labs WebCamGo (USB)
set up to watch the inside of my apartment.
It's a very good and very inexpensive setup
that came with CL Monitor software.
It has a motion-detection mode that can take snapshots or even a video of whoever triggers the adjustable motion sensor. You can even set it up to email the pics/video
in case someone steals the computer!
However, I haven't tried it with a USB cable longer than the 30' cable I use now.

------------------
Matrox G400MAX
PIII 616
Asus P2B-L
128MB
Quantum Fireball KX 27.3
ADI G66
Monster Sound MX200
Motorola CyberSURFR

[ALBPM]

Thanks Tom, that sounds like it has potential. My friend will need a lot more cable for his application though

Paul

[Pace]

I think I've saw a web cam that actually connects to the network via UTP. I'll have a search and get back to you on this. I think it was expensive however but it could be the only choice for 100' away.

And Tom - do you mean 30' (feet) or 30" (inches)? I didn't think USB went this far.

Paul.

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[Wombat]

I suppose you might be able to use stand-alone hubs as USB repeaters, but I'm not sure if it will work. Sounds expensive, too. Are there network cameras, like there are network printers? Or maybe just set up a USB camera on a really cheap barebones system, and run some CAT5 from that computer to yours.

There has to be an easier way, though.

[Himself]

https://ssl10.securedata.net/mat-co/pricing.htm

There are some solutions on this site specifically for this kind of thing.

[Haig]

If your friend has a camera with an rca out and a vcr with an rca in, then all he needs is a 100' coax cable and he's set.

Before coming to Matrox, I was at Kantech Systems where we developed and manufactured high security card access systems (Fiber optics and RS485 protocols) for the DSC group. For $1500 cdn, you can automate your entire house, have a home burglar system, and also monitor whatever you want

Haig

[This message has been edited by Haig (edited 08 October 2000).]

[Riddek]

Hi,
Does anyone know at what legnth firewire, s-video and composite cables begin to degrade a video signal? Which one would supply the best video signal at the greatest legnth when connecting a camcorder to a PC?
Thanks!

[Guardian]

http://www.axis.com/products/camera_servers/

[Tom]

Pace,

Oops! I meant 10 feet, not 30 feet.

------------------
Matrox G400MAX
PIII 616
Asus P2B-L
128MB
Quantum Fireball KX 27.3
ADI G66
Monster Sound MX200
Motorola CyberSURFR

[Greebe]

Riddek, not sure on the specifics (and of course extreme cost of Pro solutions vs consumer and pricing) but you can purchase 50' svideo cables. I'll be getting one tommorrow for my Canon ES6000 Hi8 camcorder.